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Tech mogul Google seems to be the incontestable “winner of them all” this year, and we’re still at the beginning: after partnering up with fashion brands to give the Google Glass a less geeky look and a “cooler” aura – which might convince the masses to wear them outside, in public – Google allows their futuristic gadget to become a part of a hi – tech medical study and return home with the big prize: Google Glass was found to be a very helpful tool in dealing with surgery patients or with patients subjected to biopsies or intervention radiology and imagistics, such as MRI testing, CT, ultrasounds and others. But let’s start from the beginning, so we can all understand how a geek’s gadget can turn into one of medicine’s pet projects in no time.
How come Google Glass is a great help for surgery patients?
Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, N.Y. found that Google Glass calms patients down, reducing their anxiety and soothing their suffering all the way through the procedures they have to endure. If you ever went into the MRI scan or had to have a mole biopsy, you know these medical acts are not picnics: they hurt, they throw you in a world of stress and discomfort, they keep you on the edge and they make you to not ever want to go to the doctors again. And in the last years, using sedatives is not the most favored approach either, as medication interferes with patients’ treatment. The study conducted had some patients wear the Google Glass (featuring fun and interesting videos, such as National Geographic clips and Disney movies) and they found that the ones having the glasses during the procedure showed 18 percent lower anxiety scores than the others who didn’t get the glasses.
Of course, just like any medical research, the study must be repeated on larger groups and with more variables added, but so far, it was proved that Google Glass is a great help for surgery patients and we will hear more and more about its applications in the future.
